REFORMING INTESTATE INHERITANCE FOR STEPHCHILDREN AND STEPPARENTS

Terin Barbas Cremer, Florida State University

Abstract

The current Uniform Probate Code (UPC) and state statutes relating to stepfamilies fail to achieve the purpose of intestacy statutes: to satisfy the likely intent of the decedent of a blended family and care for his or her family. More than one-half of all Americans have lived in, are currently living in, or will live in, a stepfamily, yet stepchildren and stepparents are excluded from intestate succession. The UPC drafters developed the language at a time when blended families were the exception rather than the norm.

This Article proposes statutory language consisting of a series of factors courts can use to determine whether a parent-child relationship existed between the stepparent and stepchild for intestacy purposes. Some state and federal statutes and courts evaluate the parent-child relationship in other blended family contexts; but this Article proposes the first legislative solution that naturally extends a body of law the court system and legislatures already embrace. The proposed factors statute allows states and the UPC to progress with the American culture of blended families while better effectuating intent and relieving the financial burden a state receives when it must care for the family of a decedent.